Police close butt-patting investigation into Saints defensive end Cam Jordan without charges; case referred to DA

The New Orleans Police Department has closed its investigation into an incident last month at a nightclub involving Saints defensive end Cam Jordan without recommending he face any charges, a department spokesman said Wednesday, but the case has now been referred to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

Jordan allegedly patted a woman on the buttocks and then sprayed her and her boyfriend with Champagne early in the morning of Sept. 6 at the Republic nightclub in the Warehouse District, according to a source and a police report.

WWL-TV was the first to report Wednesday that police would not pursue charges against Jordan.

Police had been investigating whether to book Jordan on a count of misdemeanor sexual battery.

Although they have decided not to do so, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office now will be given the case for review. The office could decide to take the case to a grand jury, to file charges on its own or simply to take no action on the matter.

“We understand that NOPD has turned it over to the DA’s Office,” said Jordan’s lawyer, Brian Capitelli. “We are confident and hopeful that after the DA reviews it, they will find that no charges are warranted in this case.”

The Legislature created misdemeanor sexual battery as a crime separate from simple battery just this year. The law, which defines the offense as the nonconsensual “intentional touching of the breasts or buttocks of the victim by the offender,” went into effect Aug. 1.

Police book suspects on the count relatively rarely, but on Saturday, a truck passenger was booked on one count of the crime after allegedly slapping a woman on the buttocks near the corner of North Peters Street and Elysian Fields Avenue.

In Jordan’s case, the Saints player was accused of “patting” the woman on the buttocks. According to a police report, the woman’s boyfriend told police that he then confronted Jordan in a restroom.

The man said Jordan then told him he could have “any (expletive) that I want” and dangled him in the air. Jordan then allegedly returned to the club floor, where he sprayed both the man and woman with cold Champagne.

The story took on another dimension when it was alleged in a police report that several unidentified Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies working an off-duty security detail at the club refused to help both the boyfriend and a responding police officer.

The Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into those deputies’ actions.

The Saints, meanwhile, have said next to nothing about the police investigation and did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday evening.

Jordan has played in all three games this season but missed practice Wednesday due to a back injury.